NHIS One Time Payment Fate to be Determined today -
By A. A. Yayra
On-going stakeholder’s meeting on the National Health Insurance Scheme at the La Palm Hotel is expected to among other things finally determine the fate of the National Democratic Congress’ much trumpeted One Time premium payment plan. The forum which provided a platform for key stakeholders to deliberate on alternative and sustainable healthcare financing for Ghana is also expected to come out with recommendations which will among others, see an increase in the National Health Insurance Levy, which currently stands at two and half percent. Speaking to the media before the official opening of the forum, Dr Anang Adjetey, Deputy Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs of the NHIS said “the issues tabled for stakeholders’ consideration, mainly sustainability and the One-Time Premium Payment Policy, going forward, will help to clearly define the future policy direction for the scheme.”
As part of its electoral promises, the NDC in its 2008 manifesto, promised to take a multi-sector approach to health care in Ghana and “to allow for a one time premium payment for registration with the NHIS.”
However, almost four years into office, the NDC is still finding tunes on how to implement the much touted plan which almost became the flagship policy of the umbrella party in the heat of the 2008 campaign.
The Al-Hajj’s investigation has unraveled that the failure to implement the one time premium so far was due to practical implementation challenges and stiff resistance from majority of stakeholders including development partners like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This year’s stakeholder’s engagement which is under the theme, “Re-engineering the Financial Architecture of the NHIS” was opened by President John Dramani Mahama and it brought together technical experts to deliberate on the subject of social health financing and to propose and discuss innovative ways of enhancing the sustainability of the NHIS which was tagged to have collapsed in 2009 if no new funding scheme was introduced. It is expected that at the close of the stakeholder’s engagement today, the National Health Insurance Levy and premium from subscribers will be increase in order to sustain the scheme. The Al-Hajj’s painstaking investigations prior to today’s forum has revealed that an actuarial study to ascertain the viability of the onetime policy has recommended for substantial increases in the premium of subscribers in order to ensure a successful implementation of the policy. However, key stakeholders including the IMF and the World Bank are said to kick against its implementation.
The development partners The Al-Hajj has gathered have also objected to a proposal to run a two-tier system whereby the one time premium pay policy will run side by side with the current annual subscriptions. The 2012 Stakeholder Engagement follows the coming into effect of the new law, Act 852, 2012 which governs the NHIS. The new law, Act 852 was also launched at this year’s stakeholder event.
Another side attraction to the 2012 Stakeholder Engagement is the launching of the 2011 NHIA annual report.
